Best Buys

AFTER the exuberance of Christmas, one way to make dreary. January go faster until we can get into lively little February (Lincoln's Birthday, Valentine's Day, Washington's Birthday), is to think about the pleasures of eating and plan good hearty meals. And with the prices of most things in life being what they are today, it's nice to know that even in benighted January there are some pretty worthwhile bargains in food.

This week, for instance, pork, an efficient stoker of human furnaces when temperatures are low and winds are blustery, is listed as a good buy by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. Center‐cut loin chops are to be found in the Metropolitan area from $1.29 to $1.59 a pound.

Like your pork smoked? Then consider smoked shoulder calis (sometimes called shoulder picnics). They're only 69 cents a pound in some places. They might go up to 89 cents in others, though.

Nathan Herschberg, marketing analyst for the agricultural agency, who spends a lot of his time ferreting bargains for us, thinks sliced bacon, from 98 cents to $1.49 a pound, qualifies as one. “That is, compared with the prices of a few months ago.”

Other good buys? “Bananas,” said Mr. Herschberg. “They're outstanding at 15 to 20 cents a pound. Grapefruit at 10 to 20 cents a piece aren't so bad, either. And Florida oranges can be had rom six to 10 cents; that's just for one orange, of course.”

(The word on bananas will be especially welcome to all those who are cramming them down on doctors’ orders to get potassium; it's bad enough to have to eat them whether one wants to or not, without paying a lot for the privilege.)

Potatoes continue to be at a price to fit almost any budget—a 10‐pound bag of the white all‐purpose ones range from 69 to 99 cents. Russets, which are for baking and don't cooperate if any other method is inflicted upon them, are from 14 to 18 cents a pound. Some of these potatoes, by the way, are probably what we used to call Idahos, but that specific term is no longer thrown around the way it used to be. Most of the baking potatoes here are not from Jdaho and, rather than let a store pretend that they are, the overall word ‘russet’ is used.

Yellow turnips are a much less complicated proposition. They're simply yellow turnips and they're simply priced now from 15 to 19 cents a pound. (What can be done with them, if imagination fails, is simply to mash them.)

Now for some meat besides pork. Beef is still down. Sirloin steaks, for instance, are from $1.29 to $1.69 pound. and round roasts are from $1.09 to $I.59. The bottom price is likely to be for bottom round and the top price for top round, but it doesn't always work that way; you might get the top at the bottom price.

How about chuck? Those big steaks with a bone in them are only 49 cents a pound for the first cut and up to 79 cents for the middle cut. Boneless chuck roast runs from 99 cents to $1.29 and ground chuck from 79 cents to 99 cents a pound.

Chicken, people are always saying, is always a good buy. Well, be that, as it may, Mr. Herschberg thinks it's a good one right now and has been for several weeks. Whole broilers and fryers range from 35 to 49 cents a pound.

Didn't Mr. Herschberg have any bad buys? “Cabbage, he said. “It's been rising and now it's mostly 29 cents a pound. And it had been reasonable.”

His voice sounded a little hurt as he said this. But then his tone brightened and he said, “Well, it will almost certainly be down by St. Patrick's Day; it almost always comes down just before; then.”

For the Irish? For corned beef and—? Anyway, that shows how important and influential holidays can be So all we have to do is crawl through the rest of eventless January, whiz through lively little February and then into a month that is considerate enough not only to honor St. Patrick with cheaper cabbage but also to have the first day of spring.

Candied Orange or Grapefruit Peel

4 large grapefruit or 6 navel oranges 3¼ cups sugar, approximately

2 teaspoons powdered ginger, optional.

1. Select ripe fruit with skins as nearly perfect as possible. Cut grapefruit or oranges in half and scrape out fruit pulp and membranes. (Or use reserved shells from oranges or grapefruits that have been eaten.) Be sure all membranes are removed but leave the white underskin on the peel.

2. Cut peel in long strips, a quarter to a half‐inch wide. Blanch in boiling water for five minutes. Drain and repeat blanching in fresh boiling water three times.

3. Cook 2½ cups sugar and 1¼ cups boiling water until a light syrup forms. Add ginger and cut‐up fruit peels and stir through the syrup. Simmer gently, partly covered, for about 40 minutes, or until peels have absorbed all liquid and are tender.

4. Place peels in a single layer on a sheet of waxed paper. Cool slightly and dredge with remaining sugar. Let dry, uncovered, in a warm room overnight. Store in airtight containers.

Yield: About 1½ pounds.

Note: If you use both orange and grapefruit peels, cook them sePara>tely so each retains its own flavor.

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